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sorry, I got an error message, which is strange. Oh nope. We are indeed live. Alright. Bye everybody. This is how life works Hi everyone welcome to turn up Tuesday. brought to you by the leadership conference on civil and human rights and our campaigns And Still I vote, which is powered by all Boone, is local and Vanessa Gonzales and I will be your host for this wonderful discussion and journey and for those of you who don't know us the leadership conference on civil and Human rights is a coalition Organization of over 200 organizations dedicated to centering people of. And civil rights in their day-to-day fights and so we're really honored to help create and lead at this amazing group of coalition partners before I introduce you to our guest, I really want us to just take a moment and remember that we do this work standing on the shoulders of giants who we lost this week and so during particularly difficult times for our country, we will have to carry on the torch and continue the fight that Reverend C. And Congressman John Lewis so bravely started in March for blood for and demanded that all Americans be afforded the opportunity for the right to vote and so part of our mission. here is to continue that fight and to continue that discussion and so we're really lucky to be here today and first and foremost today's topic will be Latinos and in particular Nevada. so I'm really excited because I can talk about me. So whether you call yourself a Latino Latina Latina. Rico, you name it, you are welcome and so please feel free to send in some questions in the chat and I'll get them via technology on my email, We'll be able to post it up for our folks in the in the conversation so I'm beyond thrilled to introduce Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who is the first Latina senator from the Great State of Nevada she'll be speaking to us. Amazing work that she's doing in the Hill and in this Washington DC. I'm so happy to introduce Bethany Kahn who's from the Culinary Workers Union local 26 Kermit, who is with the Nevada state director for all voting, is local and we have Marie Orr, who's the Nevada State coordinator for me Familia welcome everyone. Hello Senator. I'm gonna kick it off with you of course and again. Thank you so much for being here. we know how precious your time is especially during. And making those big fights so thank you so much can you just talk a little bit about the federal work in a bit of the way of the land on voting rights and in particular how this impacts the Latino community? Yeah, Vanessa first of all, Let me just say. thank you. Thank you for the coalition, putting this together and all of the incredible people that I get to be on this discussion with this Facebook live. Thank you and and let me just say also Thank you for kicking it off. For the individuals that you talked about that we lost just recently people don't know that I am here in the Senate. I don't because incredible people came out in Nevada to support me but to Latino population came to support me and it was Congressman Lewis, who came out with me in when I was running in 2016 to help me and he came he came out to Southern Nevada and it was an incredible experience so the power of just turning out to vote. You're protecting your right to vote and using it it is it. Incredible power and it's it's something that we all have and have the right to use and we have to protect it but we have to also recognize that when we send people whether it's to Washington or to our our capital in our state or our Legislature or even our local elected officials are putting them into office. It matters because they're gonna be deciding issues that are unique to us or a personal to us or impact our families right or our. Or our future or our kid's future education. So that's why it's so important that we turn out to vote at all levels and that's why now in the United States. Senate I am fighting to ensure we can protect everybody's right to vote, particularly Latinos because what I have seen. unfortunately from this administration is voter suppression. it is happening not only from from the President Trump but to Republican leadership, they're spending millions. Of dollars trying to suppress our votes so that we do not turn out to vote because they know we will vote for the issues of the policies that are important for us and it is about our kids and health care and education that right it is about making sure everybody has a future It is about a clean environment that we can grow up in for our kids and in our future as well. So much is at stake in this election so right now in the. We are getting ready to actually fight for the next piece of package during this pandemic to stimulate the economy, particularly to put more money into people's pockets because of this pandemic right, we're in the Middle of the health care crisis that is creating an economic crisis and we're coming up in November for people's right to vote to elect a new President and elect leaders all across this country and in our local communities, so we want to ensure that everybody who come out to vote that you do. But you vote safely and you have a choice you either vote absentee by mail or you you turn out in person in a safe manner following the guidelines that were set by the health care experts and that you have options to come out so there should be early voting you should have the option not just one single day because of this pandemic we should make sure everybody has the access and the ability to vote so I have we've got two bills that I've signed on to in Congress right now that are we're we're fighting for to ensure that we have the right absentee ballot mail-in ballots for individuals and there's no voter. Associated with that early voting it is attached to a lot of the voting that will happen across this country and for dollars to go into our state to help our state's prepare to for this upcoming election so they have the machines they have the ability to make sure people can use their choice whether they want a mail in ballot or show up in person to vote. and that's really the fight that that is gonna happen. You're gonna see it in the next couple of weeks. We're gonna be negotiating this with Republicans on this in the Senate the House has already done their job. They've already passed their legislation, which does all of what I've just talked about, but unfortunately, there's one man, Mitch McConnell, who has refused to bring that House bill forward and so now we're still trying to fight with him to get the the electoral laws passed so that we can make sure that everybody has a right to vote in fact tomorrow I sit on the Senate Rules Committee and the rules can. Oversees the election process across this country and so we're gonna be talking about the importance of not only turning out to vote for elections and making sure everybody has the opportunity and their vote is not suppressed so we can go into more detail about that, but that really is why I so appreciate you having this conversation today people need to understand what is happening and how others are trying to suppress and take away the right to vote. Yeah. absolutely. Thank you so much for that and thank you for. Our Back in the Senate there particularly tomorrow's rules Committee hearing is going to be very important so please tune in please send the senators some support as well as all of those advocates when we talk about voter suppression, we don't just mean what you saw or what you may have been used to seeing in the 19 sixties right now, voter suppression looks like constructing any type of barricade for all Americans to vote, so that can mean those long lines that we've seen wrapped around buildings. That can mean lack of access to healthy and safe boating places, so not making making sure that your place is clean. You know that people should not have to choose between their health and their Democratic right to vote and we're seeing a lot of that poke up and we know that as Congressman Lewis said, if it wasn't that important, then they wouldn't be trying to stop us and there are 32 million eligible Latino voters in custody right now, We're really young community I'm so young but we're all in the community. We're all very young and so can you tell us a little bit about when you take that big number and you look at a state like Nevada and there we're both by mail what's happening we saw about 6700 or so ballots that were rejected in June because election officials are saying they couldn't verify signatures so the fear is that this is gonna continue to snowball right and then we're gonna continue to see these voters suppression in other States and impacting communities of. So can you tell us a little bit about that and what residents should expect moving forward? Yeah definitely. so first of all. I'm just like the Center was saying at the state level, we do not have a general election voting plan yet here in Nevada and so just like what Senator Cortez Masto was saying we need our state policy makers and our election officials at the local level to act now to ensure that we have the right to vote in that voting does stay intact and this. General election and then as far as the primary goes with the over 6000 rejected ballots so one way we can avoid that is to improve our valid verification method. It's a one method that all voting is local would recommend is using the last four digits of the social security number instead of using these harsh signature algorithms and standards that you know the primary shows does not work and lastly we would recommend having a career period because we know. Like you said that black and Brown voters have higher rejection rates than White voters do and this would help alleviate some of that, but also it will help get rid of this. you know not uniform signatures standards that we don't have across counties right now in Nevada. Yeah. Thank you for that. That's the that is a little concerning to hear that so Bethany you and all of the work that you've been doing in Local 220 - six works with a lot of population of Latinos. We are Booty black in the state. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the work that you are doing to overcome some of the pieces is lifted up and to ensure that our community knows how important it is to get out to vote Sure Thanks so the Culinary Union has been organizing and building worker power in Nevada for about 80 - five years. Sorry, 80 fifth year and we represent 60000 workers and with their families about a hundred and 40, -, 5000 Nevadans and so that is who the Culinary Union goes out to when we do GOTV or voter registration Latino Organization in Nevada we are engaged throughout the entire year, not just on electoral politics, Culinary Union members and their families here from us all year long, we could be coming to their doors or phone banking them or emailing or texting them throughout the year about a contract to strike vote a protest about at Station Casinos or now fighting for safety during the covid- 19 pandemic. So we know how important it is to engage every day with workers and their families. Big part of our a big part of this community so our campaign is a battle tested political program and it will be responsive to the covid- 19 political process and our campaign draws from a rich knowledge of voter of workers talking to each other and building power to win for our families and that's that's been a great slogan that we've been using throughout the years as we vote we win for our families and we really see that members believe that when they For their families because we all have someone in our family who is undocumented or who has temporary protected status or who is a dreamer and when we vote as citizens, we know we're voting to protect them and for them. so it's something that's very important to us and our families and there's some major issues that are on the ballot this November and those issues are range from safety on the job as workers are working every day and at risk every day and winning comprehensive immigration reform and then defeating this President on Election Day. Yeah. To all of that, I really wanna hone in on one of the points that you laid out. I don't know about you all but typically every election cycle. We're called the the sleeping giant and it seems like everybody waits for us to wake up and then when we do, you know they expected to happen automatically and so I think you're making a really good point. Bethany about engagement throughout the year. This isn't just parachuting into a community trying to convince folks to vote for you. It's really about how do you? Engagement with the community to build that trust to continue to know that you understand what the community needs and that varies right. I'm from Texas. I'm a Latina from Texas Mexican a second generation that my needs and my background and my history are very different than my Puerto Rican brothers and sisters in New York right, And so I think it's really imperative that when we talk about Latino community and outreach that we're doing what you layered in Bethany that you're continuing the engagement throughout the year and it's not just around electoral politics. so thank you for all of your amazing work. Speaking of building. Trust and understanding what the community needs Maria Can you tell us a little bit about your work when it comes in particular to language barriers for the community and what are some of the key things that you want the community to really take the heart this election cycle. Thank you so much for the question. Vanessa Yeah here from the level that we focus on a lot of issues we focus on workers rights education environment health care immigration and voting rights and one of our. Priorities right now is to get the community out to vote to make sure that they're you know participating in what is honestly going to be the biggest election yet we just launched our Trump campaign in which we will be focusing on educating the community on the wrong doings and how to hold every candidate accountable and especially someone who has targeted the community a lot of voting has definitely had it's own and accessibility in a lot of. From when it comes to registering to vote like some pages don't have landing pages in Spanish and we have dedicated to make our Malta dot Org page to have that translation like it's all translated, not just the registering to vote so our community members can find information on everything in Spanish and in English, and of course, like that has been a big thing for us because we don't know like which generation is gonna be you know looking at our website or like trying to click for more information. and I think that this. Pandemic has definitely given us the time and opportunity to talk to our family members about the importance of voting and how like as the lot of community is currently facing unprecedented challenges. Why it's important to vote and why it's important to have those conversations cuz I know a lot of other folks who like have decided to not vote and now I'm like, hey, listen like do you understand like we don't want this to happen again like we want someone who will be able. Handle a pandemic and in order to do that, like we're going to have a aggressive community-based outreach in which like we're reaching those hard like those hard to vote communities. We're reaching the elder folks as well and especially now the younger folks like I have never seen you know people in my generation so pumped about politics until now, and it's definitely a great opportunity to be taking this into our hands. Yeah absolutely. Thank you for that Senator. I wanna ask you. we know that throughout history there have been I guess you could say creative ways to suppress the vote and we're again we're continuing to see things where either it's not provided in language where we are having you know polling places change. I think it's some cases less than 48 hours before the election when you look at the bills that you're supporting in the legislation in Congress. can you make it? For people if this were to pass what does that mean for the voters? so that means that there's one more money going into all of the States so that they can show up their election materials and machines and more of opportunities for voters to get out and vote now in a safe manner right because right now in the Middle of a health care pandemic, but the other part of this is we also need to you just talked about it. We also need to make. That unfortunately there are some people that still want to engage in voter suppression and they'll figure out ways how they know how they can suppress certain votes depending on the uniqueness of that state or the community. Let me give you an example. I know of a community where there's a strong the last day of early voting. It's a Saturday and traditionally there's been strong African-American voters that would come out on that Saturday. So what did the Legislature do they cost? To take away that Saturday and early voting and so there's just things that they can play with or try to pass to prevent it. Another way is very simple for mail-in ballots. Think about this, you know somebody about it to to vote if you don't put a postage prepaid stamp on it, then you're also there's another barrier right now. They have to go out and get a stamp, but they can get a stamp and put it on remember to do that. I mean so it's little things. It's big things. it's unfortunately, it's thing it's lost. It is rules that have been adopted changes that have been made in the last minute in our community, I will tell you I was very proud when I ran in 2016 the card in this market in North Las Vegas, Latinos came out to vote and they stood in line to support me out the door literally and at 70 'clock on the last day of voting my opponents and unfortunately President Trump who was I wanted to shut it down and wouldn't allow them to vote, but that's not the law. That's not the rule in our local jurisdiction and rightfully so the election the gentleman who runs the election, law said. No they can stay in and they can vote it was challenged in court. I mean that's how far the individuals will go to suppress the right for people to vote. That's why it's so important, not only do we come out but we're vigilant we we get an elected positions We protect people's rights to vote. We figure out all the. The groups that I'm with all of you that I'm I'm on the panelists today, you know we've just got to be out there constantly talking about it and and being vigilant to stop that from happening and call it out when we see it absolutely thank you for that. we're gonna we're coming to our end of our time together. I just really want to employ people that if you don't trust vote by mail if you have concerns about safe boating, please feel free to visit And Still I vote dot Org or feel free to visit all the is local or any of these amazing organizations. In our community, there are people who have dedicated their lives to making sure that your right to vote is protected and sacred and so I know particularly in the Latino community. There's a lot of concern about sending your vote by mail and will it really get there these amazing people here in these organizations can tell you how it will get there and can make sure that you are and informed throughout your ballots process and throughout all the way up until Election Day so here. A tradition we all need a little help these days, especially after such a hard week and then on top of that a hardwood four months we're going into all of this mess so I wanna ask each of them each of my guests and I'll call you as I see your square popping up on my screen A simple question. What gives you hope? so let's start with you know so I think right now the helpers are giving me hope I think when you watch the news like it's a lot of negativity but just in my community every single day, I'm seeing people you know. Other people, whether that's through like delivering food or helping out a local food Bank I had I had somebody give me like some supplies that I couldn't find a couple of months ago, so I really do think that there's a lot of Americans out there helping each other in this extraordinary time that we're going through and I think that that really gives me hope right now. That's great. Thank you Maria. What gives you hope? I think it gives me hope is definitely the team that I have at MF like they're definitely ready to hit the ground running all the time and in my personal life, I think definitely my grandparents. They give me a lot of hope that's great. Bethany. What gives you hope I think workers that I see every day give me hope they're on the front lines there essential workers they work hard every day to provide for their families and they're just asking for safe work environments where they are not. Endangered from the spread of Cove 19, so they're fighting every day. they're working hard and they give me a lot of hope in their courage gives me hope Thank you and finally Senator what gives you hope? Oh, I have to say similar to you know all the people that reach out to my office and there are so many incredible Nevadans and and people that I get to meet every day that a lot of people don't see or or me, but they give me hope because they're just good compassionate people. That you wanna do the right thing that care and they care about their neighbors. They care about the community and ensuring that we're all you know they all recognize. We're all in this together so we shouldn't be fighting one another. We're trying to divide us our pets against one another. It is about what works for all of us is good for the community for the state and this country and I get to meet those people every single day and through the work that I do and I just am honored by it, but that gives me hope That's. Thank you so again, I'm making another if you have any questions if you need any information about voting feel free to visit leadership conference on civil and human rights. All voting is local and still votes the senator's office Mi Familia, Alta, and, of course the Culinary Workers Association, all amazing partners and really in the community doing the work so on behalf of the leadership conference on the human rights, I'd like to say thank you. To all of our guests, Thank you for your time and most and foremost. Thank you so much for your passion and your work and the energy we know it's hard but thank you for keeping up the fight. Alright. Thanks everyone have a good night Vanessa.